Rahul slams Nitish for 'bragging' about Bihar's development

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi today slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for flaunting the development work done by him in Bihar and asked him to see the progress in Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for flaunting the development work done by him in Bihar and asked him to see the progress in Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh.

"Nitish always flaunts development work done by him. If he is really interested to assess what he has done for Bihar, he should not compare it with that of the 15-year-rule of RJD led by Lalu Prasad.

"I advise him to compare his work with the development in Andhra Pradesh," Gandhi told an election meeting here.

Raking up afresh the issue of Kumar's secular credentials, he said the JD-U leader should not claim it as long as he was in the company of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

"How can a person project a secular image with ties with such leaders?" he asked.

The UPA government has always cooperated with Bihar and provided around Rs one lakh crore in the last six years against Rs 50,000 crore given by the erstwhile NDA government, he said.

"More funds have been given for implementation of MGNREGA, Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana and Indira Awas Yojana, but the desired results are yet to be seen," he rued.

Stating that it required vision to reach the fruits of development work to the poor and that the NDA government had done a lot for the rich, he asserted Bihar has the potential to become a developed state and there was no dearth of funds for its growth.

He appealed to the people to vote for Congress saying his party alone could provide justice to the poor and serve them.